The Winds of Green Monday
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2019}}
{{Infobox television episode
| series = Wednesday Theatre
| image =
| caption =
| season = 1
| episode = 30
| director = Oscar Whitbread
| teleplay = Michael Noonan
| photographer =
| airdate = {{Start date|1965|08|04|df=y}}
| guests =
| prev = The Sweet Sad Story of Elmo and Me
| next = Ever Since Paradise
}}
"The Winds of Green Monday" is a 1965 Australian television play by Michael Noonan. It aired as part of Wednesday Theatre on 4 August 1965 in Sydney and Melbourne,{{cite news|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|date=August 4, 1965|page=12|title=Television}}{{Cite news|newspaper=The Age|date=29 August 1965|title=TV Guide|page=29|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/122770721/?terms=%22green%20monday%22&match=1}} and on 1 September 1965 in Brisbane.{{cite magazine|magazine=TV Times|title=Z cars cop turns seaman in ABC play|page=9|date=25 August 1965}} It starred Terry Norris and was directed by Oscar Whitbread.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131830931 |title=MONDAY |newspaper=The Canberra Times |volume=39 |issue=11,223 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=2 August 1965 |accessdate=20 March 2017 |page=2 (TELEVISION and radio GUIDE) |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite magazine|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/60-australian-tv-plays-1950s-60s/|magazine=Filmink|title=60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s|date=February 18, 2019}}
Plot
A crew deserts a ship to find their fortune in the 1850s goldfields. After three weeks of digging and nothing to show for it, the crew get restless despite the efforts of Welshman Jones. The ship's captain turns up at their shanty and tries to exercise his authority. Only the tragic accident which causes a young apprentice to lose his mind prevents the crew from returning to the ship. The captain forms a relationship with a singer.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131831068 |title='Combat' private in a ballad |newspaper=The Canberra Times |volume=39 |issue=11,223 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=2 August 1965 |accessdate=28 February 2016 |page=1 (TELEVISION and radio GUIDE) |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/122310568/?terms=%22green%20monday%22&match=1|title=Search for gold inspires play|newspaper=The Age|date=29 July 1965|page=19}}
Cast
- Keith Lee as Scottish captain McKendrick
- Terry Norris as Mate Roberts
- Jennifer Wright as music hall singer Martha
- Martin Magee as the young apprentice
- George Whaley as Welshman Jones
- Stanley Walsk as a Cockney seaman
- Roly Barie
- Nevil Thurgood
- Tony McGrath
Production
It was one of 20 TV plays produced by the ABC in 1964 (and one of only three Australian scripts).{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|title=ABC Plans to Show Significant Works|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=g5FVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vpYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6982%2C3380131|date=20 February 1964|page=13}} It was filmed in Melbourne. Jennifer Wright and Stanley Walsh had just arrived in Australia from England and made their Australian TV debuts.
Reception
The Sydney Morning Herald praised the performances of Lee and Wright as "professional" but complained about the "stiffness of the dialogue" and said "the direction of the crowds with their rhubarb-rhubarb voices and their tinned and infuriatingly phony laughter drove us for solace across the dial."{{cite news|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|title=New Series are Unpredictable|date=August 6, 1965|page=8|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/122771083/?terms=%22green%20monday%22&match=1}}
British version
The play was adapted for British TV in 1965 starring Chips Rafferty.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b8de465c4|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311150813/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b8de465c4|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 March 2016|title=The Winds of Green Monday (1965)}}{{cite web | title=CTVA UK | website="ITV Play Of The Week" (ITV) Season 11 (1965-66) | date=1966-03-14 | url=http://ctva.biz/UK/ITV/ITV_PlayOfTheWeek_11_%281965-66%29.htm | access-date=2022-12-17}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb episode|1784686}} (Australian Version)
- {{IMDb episode|1320803}} (British Version)
- [http://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/6725912 The Winds of Green Monday] at Austlit
{{Oscar Whitbread}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Winds of Green Monday, The}}
Category:1965 television plays
Category:1965 Australian television episodes
Category:1960s Australian television plays
Category:Works by Michael Noonan (Australian writer)
Category:Fiction set in the 1850s
Category:Wednesday Theatre season 1 episodes
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